Hate crime victims urged to contact South Yorkshire Police

Claire Lewis

Police chiefs in South Yorkshire are urging hate crime victims to report offences

The force has launched a 'Hate Hurts' campaign to raise awareness of the impact hate crimes can have on victims and to urge victims and witnesses to report incidents.

Superintendent Sarah Poolman said: “'Hate' can be any incident or crime motivated by prejudice or hostility, or perceived to be, against a person’s race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

“This includes crimes such as threatening behaviour online or in person, assaults or criminal damage, and incidents which are not crimes but often feel like crimes to those affected. Whether it is a crime or incident, we want to know about both so police and our partners are better able to tackle all forms of hate.

“As part of our commitment to protect our communities from hate, we have been and continue to work closely with our partners and community groups to raise awareness, encourage reporting and listen to feedback on how we can improve our responses.

“This effort has resulted in communities having a voice and the confidence to report hate to the police and has enabled us to put plans in place to prevent further hate. However, we are aware hate is still under-reported and for us to be able to continue to take action, we need both victims and witnesses to report it.

“The overall purpose of this campaign is to encourage people to report all forms of hate to the police and I would like to assure everyone, that we will take all reports seriously and will do our best to support you and others that may be affected by this."